Sleeping Beauty
by not-a-mastermind
Summary: When a cold case becomes hot and it has ties to Prentiss's mother the team will have to work quickly to save a life and a bond between Prentiss and the intended victim. Bad summary.
1. it started with a crash

I don't own Criminal Minds and I'm not making money from this. Not beta'd all mistakes are mine. Hope you enjoy.

"_**Life**__** is lived in a circle. The dates keep coming back to you. People say, '**__**Move**__** on.' But that implies a straight road taking you somewhere else. Nothing can take you out of the seasons of the years and the dates that recall your **__**life**__**. And since we were a happy family together, we had many happy days and those days are now sad days.**__**" - **__**Susan Cohen **_

**Mid Winter 2004**

"Come on baby wake up," A dark haired woman shook the sleeping child gently. The also dark haired child moaned and opened her eyes.

"Mommy?" The sleepy child looked confused.

"We have to go for a ride sweetheart, I need you to get up. I have your favorite coat" the woman held up a light blue winter jacket.

"Okay" the little girl sat up slowly then turned and slid out of bed holding a stuffed dog. Her mother helped her put on her coat and slippers which were at the edge of her bed.

"Honey do you have Sophia we have to leave now," A man's strained voice came from outside the room.

"We're coming Steven," the woman picked up the little girl and left the room. Outside in the hall a tall middle aged man with dark blonde hair. He had a heavy coat on and a duffle bag in one hand. With the other he gestured the woman over and when she came he took hold of her arm. They went quickly down a set of stairs into a front entry way. The man let go of the woman and opened the door to the cold night. There was a light dusting of snow on the ground and their breaths left white clouds in the air. They hustled towards a black **Chrysler 300, the man opened the rear door on the driver's side before opening the drivers' door. He slid in and leaned over to open the passenger door from the inside pulling his door closed at the same time. As he did so the women leaned in the open back door and put the girl down. She quickly buckled the girl in before closing the door and rushing around the back of the car to slide into the passenger seat. The man pulled the car out of the driveway as the woman shut her door. She reached over and with some work got the seat belt on the man before buckling her own.**

"**Do you think we'll make it Steven?" The woman asked looking back at the girl in the review mirror.**

"**I think so Carol" the man took a quick look in the review mirror as well but not to look at the child. He was looking at the cars behind then as they were now entering the busier roads of Virginia. Traffic was light this early in the morning but being so close to the DC metro area there was still plenty of traffic. He was speeding slightly as he drove towards the nearest freeway that would take them to DC. He had to get to his office, then the Embassy. They were on the highway when a large dark Dodge SUV pulled in behind them. The man noticed it when the bright lights reflected off the review. He sped up slightly and changed a lane, looking back in the mirror to see the SUV again.**

"**Steven?" The woman's voice was concerned. The SUV switched lanes and caught up to them. A second SUV which had been behind the first stayed in the original lane but pulled forward a little.**

"**We're being followed," the man kept looking back at the SUV's and the woman turned to look out the back window.**

**The SUV behind them pulled up very close and the other began to pull alongside them. The man again began speeding up once more and moved over to the last lane. There was construction coming up then an exit ramp. He hoped to make the exit ramp into a smaller street where there might be a cop somewhere.**

**The SUV's sped up, changing lanes as well, and the one in the farther lane switched to the opposite side before beginning to pull up alongside them. The SUV behind the moved forward bumping them slightly and the woman gasped as the man tightened his grip on the steering wheel.**

"**Mommy?" came a small voice from the rear seat.**

"**It's okay baby, just be still okay," she looked back to see the little girl now wide away clutching her stuffed dog.**

**The SUV bumped them again only harder causing the car so swerve slightly almost knocking into the SUV next to it. They were blocked in with the two SUVs and the construction now appearing on their other side. The man pushed the gas pedal almost to the floor but only gained a small margin of space between them and the SUVs. But it was not enough the SUV were again upon them in second. The one on their side started to move closer forcing the man to move to the edge of the road. The SUV behind them hits them much harder this time and they swipe the SUV on the side.**

"**Mommy!" the little girl screams from the back seat and begins to cry.**

"**Hush, it's okay. It'll be okay sweetheart," the woman turns to look at her. She reaches out for the girl only to be shaken when they are hit again.**

**They are trapped now between the dangerous construction zone and the SUVs now. The rear SUV rams them particularly hard and they bounce between the side SUV and some low concrete barriers. The next time the rear SUV rammed them it didn't back off and pushed them forward instead. The man shouts as he loses control of the wheel after some swerving and they slide along some barriers unto a tire blows and they hit some work materials causing their car to be lifted. Coming back down it lands wrong and another hit from the SUVs has it flipping sideways hitting some construction before rolling four times to come to a stop smashing into a steam roller.**

**The two SUVs pull up and two large men get out of the first one. They run over to the crashed car and look inside. The man is undoubtedly dead and the woman is convulsing in death throws only to go still seconds after they arrive. There is a broken gurgling crying coming from further in the car. One man kneels down to get a better look of the little girl. She is covered in blood and looking right at him. But her crying is lessening and her breathing slowing, her eyes begin to droop.**

"**Come on Tony, the cops are coming and other cars are stopping" the second man leans down and looks in. "She'll be dead in a minute let's go" he stands back up.**

"**Just a second more Mark" the first man watches as the little girl's eyes close and a bloody stuffed dog falls out of her hands. She went still and the first man stands up. They walk back to the SUV, getting in and driving away followed but the other SUV. They get into single file the SUV that did the ramming in the back with the second in front. They drive close to the construction side to hide the damage and watch as a line of Police cars and ambulances pass them.**

Late Spring 2005

**There is a knock on the open door jamb and the older man with grey hair and matching mustache looks up to see a tall middle aged woman with dark eyes and darker hair. "Ah, **ambassador Prentiss welcome back to DC." The man moves towards her as she steps into the office and they shake hands.

"It's nice to be back Ross," she gives him a small smile and then looked around the office. It was empty except for a large desk, single standard issue chair behind it, two medium sized book cases and two matching file cabinets opposite.

"It's not much to look at know but I know you'll make it your own in not time. In fact I have a welcome back present" the man reached behind the desk and pulled out a vase of flowers.

"Wow, now I suppose I'll have to work hard to show I earned those," she smiled wider as he set the flowers on the desk.

"I'm sure you will, I know your reputation. It's why I had them hire you back here. I'm sorry to say not under the best circumstances but the spot needed to be filled." He got a sad look on his face for a moment but then it was gone. "Now let me show you around the rest of the office." They left the office and he began the tour introducing her to many of the other people about.

Early Winter 2006

"**Did you see Elle's replacement?" Reid asked Morgan as they met up getting coffee.**

"**Yeah, I hear she's the daughter of some diplomat or ambassador or something like that. Why?" Morgan looked over at Reid.**

"**She kinda scares me and I don't know why they had to replace Elle so fast," Reid looked around as if checking to see no one heard him besides Morgan.**

**Morgan gave a small chuckle "I'm sure she's not that bad, just give her a chance, I'm going to. As to why they're replacing Elle so fast there could be a number of reasons. But she made her choice Reid and we have to live with that. Things change, especially around here. Now come on we got some work to do kid." With that he started to walk away and seconds later Reid turned to follow.**

_**Notes: It was unsaid how **__Elizabeth Prentiss got back to the US or how she got picked for her office or when she came into the position so I made up the date for my story. If it is ever explained sorry for the confusion. Also it's been a while since I've seen it but I believe one of the older episodes mentioned Emily Prentiss worked in Chicago for a while, or somewhere in the Midwest. Again if I have it wrong I am sorry for the confusion._

(Okay this is it for the start hope you enjoyed. This story is complete but I will update it once a week. Still working on my other story and uploading the other. Thanks for reading please review.)


	2. time passes

_**"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes." - **__**Charles R. Swindoll**_

**Early spring 2007**

"So I see you are working thinks out with your mother" Hotch said as he stirred a bit of cream into his coffee.

"It's too soon to tell if we're working things out. But it is nice to be able to talk to her again." Prentiss filled her own cup with coffee.

"Well I glad to hear it's going then."

"Yeah, I think it might actually work this time. She sees me for who I am now and I understand her far better than I did before. I guess now is just the right time."

"Good. Don't let that go it can be very important. Fixing things with loved ones is never easy but in the end it's worth it." With that Hotch left to go back to his office leaving Prentiss to think.

After a few moments Prentiss shook her head and went back to her desk. The bull pen has half full this early in the morning but she spied Morgan over by Reid's desk. From the slight blush on Reid's cheeks she could tell Morgan was tease/grilling him about his weekend. As she sat down JJ came down from her office.

"Morning Morgan, hello Reid" she acknowledged them as she made her way over to Prentiss. "Hey Prentiss" she nodded at her, "how was the weekend with your mother?"

"Fine, we had dinner and talked. I'm going to see her again in two weeks if we don't have a case then."

"Maybe JJ can pull some string to help out. I'd like some time off" Morgan smiled as he passed by overhearing them.

"Wouldn't we all Morgan" JJ laughed. "I'll see what I can do but right now we have a case. I have to run it by Hotch but it looks like we might be headed to Idaho."

"Thanks for the heads up JJ" Prentiss sighed. JJ nodded and left walking back up the stairs towards Hotch's office.

"I'm glad you had a good time with your mother," Reid said sounding a little nervous and looking away from her when she looked at him. She realized he was trying to be nice after the resent strain that their tentative friendship had been recently put through.

"Thanks" she replied and turned to a stack of paperwork on her desk. If they were leaving soon for a case she wanted to get some of the old paperwork out of the way before newer work arrived.

**Summer 2007**

A middle aged woman with graying red hair and faded green eyes in a pastel pink smock and scrubs with a colorful name tag spelling Rachel in big letters looked up at the woman in front of her. She was short and slightly plump with blond hair and bright green eyes.

"Can I help you?" Rachel asked the woman.

"Yes I'm looking for Doctor Talbot?" she replied.

"Ah you must be Sandy, Doctor Talbot will be here to do his rounds in about five minutes if you want to wait. It might take you thank long to find his office and then I'm sure he'll be here. I'm Rachel if you didn't notice the tag." Rachel stood and held out her hand to Sandy.

"Yes, it's nice to meet you, I'll wait thanks. Will I be working with you?"

"Yes, just you, me and the late shift. You came at a good time I suppose, Doctor Talbot's only been here six months and he's changing things up. With all the new technology and medical discoveries it had to happen sometime I guess. But since you're new you don't have to try and erase years of procedure."

"How long have you worked here?"

"I've been here for too long, about six years now I suppose."

"That is a long time, I only hope to be here for a short time. My goal is to work my way up to maternity ward but I have a little bit of school left for that. Then there is the getting the job part. Not that I won't do this job the best I can, I just hope to work with patients a little smaller."

Rachel chuckled, "well good luck with that, I don't think I could stand all the crying myself. But if it make any difference you'll like working with bed three then."

Sandy looked confused, "bed three?"

"Sorry we have a tendency to refer to patients by bed number a lot. Bed three belongs to a girl named Sophia."

"A girl? That's a little odd isn't it? Why wouldn't she be in the pediatrics wing where she could get more attention? I'm sure it's rather gloomy for her parents to visit her here."

"I'm sure it would be but she's an orphan, ward of the state. But with Doctor Talbot's new way of doing things I think she'll be getting plenty of attention."

"Good evening Rachel, Miss," a youngish man with brown hair and bread with blue-grey eyes walked up to them. He set a large clipboard with a stack of files attached on the counter.

"Hello Doctor Talbot, this is Sandy the new nurse" Rachel nodded toward Sandy. I told her she could wait here for you instead of trying to find you."

"Thanks you, welcome Sandy" Talbot turned toward her and gave a smile. "Walk with me while we talk, I have to get some things checked and then we can finish in my office." Talbot picked up the clipboard again and gestured for her to follow him before turning and walking down the hall to a set of doors marked Long Term Care.

**Early Fall 2007**

"Hey Mark, Anton's got another job for us be ready to go in ten minutes." The large man stuck his head around the corner and looked at the smaller man on the couch.

"Alright Tony," Mark gets up and stretches a bit. "What we doing this time?" He yells back to Tony.

"Just a bit of leg breaking, nothing special" Tony shouts back. Mark snorts and shakes his head knowing that Tony would no doubt like to make it something special. That man had a real mean streak despite what they did for a living. Pushing out of his mind he walks towards the hall to the attached garage. Another day, another job, another dollar.

**Notes: I haven't seen the earlier seasons in a little while so I forgot how the team originally got the case in Idaho so forgive me if I got it wrong that JJ didn't inform them of it.**

_(Sorry for the shorter chapter but I was working on my other stories at the time I wrote this fic. However the next chapter is a bit longer to let you know. Thanks to everyone who stopped by to read. Hope you are enjoying this story. Feel free to review.)_


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry to the readers of my stories for the long delay, life has thrown me and my family a huge curve ball recently so I have been away to deal with the fall out. But that is almost resolved now. I will be back up dating regularly by Thanksgiving and will post extra chapters to catch up for the missing time. Thanks for hanging in there and waiting.


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